29. The Country House Basement

A few days later, Christine, Raoul, and Mitchell found themselves at the de Chagny country home. They had left the city of Paris behind, only stopping once at Opera Populaire for Raoul to inform André and Firmin that he would be gone for two to three weeks on vacation with Christine. After Raoul had told them his plans, they had gone straight to the country home.

Christine had never seen such a peaceful place; the home was a three-story cabin, the top floor being bedrooms and the ground floor being a living room and kitchen. There was a bathroom on each floor. The bottom floor was a basement; storage for supplies. Raoul had asked Christine not to go down there; garden supplies and other dangerous equipment was down there, and he didn't want her getting hurt. On the backside of the house was a large backyard bordered by a forest. Meanwhile, the front of the house offered a view of a lake. It was a quiet place, one where Christine was able to forget the troubles that the city of Paris placed on her mind. She had no idea such a beautiful place existed only a few short hours outside of such a large, dangerous city.

Raoul and Christine spent their days together riding horses or down on the shore of the lake. They had picnics and stayed out late to look at the stars. One day. Raoul had Mitchell bring a small boat from the basement of the house and he took he rout on the lake. Mitchell said he didn't enjoy those activities, so he stayed at the house and read. "Besides," he had said, "I'm not here to have the fun that you are, Mademoiselle; I am here to make sure that you do have fun." She supposed that if that was the only reason Mitchell was here, he was doing a very good job; this was the most relaxed Christine had been since the night Don Juan opened.

Everything was going so well. Raoul maintained his gentle nature, and Christine found herself falling in love with him, despite constantly reminding herself of everything he had done. She seemed unable to control what her heart did and felt, and soon she had almost forgotten about how she had felt for Erik and all of the horrible things Raoul had done to the two of them. If Raoul had asked Christine to marry him, she was sure that she would say yes.

But he didn't ask her. Not for two weeks. Even by the end of the second week, he hadn't tried to force her to do anything, and he hadn't made any attempts to verbally or physically court her. The only thing they did that be considered questionable was sleep in the same bed. He gave no sign that he had any interest in her other than as a close friend. And Christine was grateful for that. It seemed that nothing could ruin their vacation.

At the start of their third week at the country house, everything began to fall apart. It was midnight Monday morning and Christine had been sleeping fitfully. She had been having nightmares the whole time she had been at the de Chagny estate, but when she woke up from them, she had no recollection of the dreams. On this morning, she woke with a start, drenched in a cold sweat, but she wasn't sure why. The dream she had been having was forgotten already.

Sighing, Christine rolled over, ready to curl up against Raoul and fall back asleep, when she realized that his side of the bed was cold. He wasn't there. She figured that he had just gone to the bathroom, but there was a part of her that was worried. So, Christine slowly climbed out of bed and started for the bathroom on the bedroom floor. When she got there, she found the door open and the bathroom vacant.

Confused, she went down the stairs and checked the bathroom on the first floor. That was unoccupied as well. Where is Raoul? She thought. Christine went to see if she could wake Mitchell and see if he knew what was going on, but he wasn't in his room, either. Everyone was gone, and she had no idea where they were at.

Starting to get worried, Christine went back to the ground floor, grabbed a lantern, and walked outside, calling their names. There was no response. When she went to where the horses and carriage were kept, she found that the carriage was still there, but one of the horses was gone. Did they leave me here? She wondered, starting to panic. No, the more rational part of her mind reasoned, they wouldn't take just one horse. Not for both of them… Perhaps Mitchell had to run back to the city for something…

Christine went back into the house. There was one place she hadn't checked yet. Slowly, she walked towards the basement door. I promised Raoul I wouldn't do this… She thought. But this is the only place left… If he's not down here, then where is he?

Slower still, Christine opened the door and looked down the long flight of steps descending into darkness. Taking a deep breath, she started down the stairs. As she went deeper under the ground, the air grew colder. She was grateful for the small amount of heat coming off the lantern, tiny though it was, and found herself wishing that she was wearing something warmer.

Finally, she had reached the bottom of the stairs. She held the lantern out in front of her, trying to see past her nose. "Raoul?" she whispered. "Mitchell? Are you down here?"

There was no response.

Her heart racing, Christine went deeper into the darkness. Something was very, very wrong here, but she wasn't quite sure what just yet. Through the deafening silence, Christine heard a faint noise. It was a noise she had heard one other time, when she had visited Erik in the jailhouse. It was the sound of chains. She could feel herself shaking as she called out, "Who's down here?"

Still no one responded, but now Christine knew she wasn't alone. There was someone down here with her, and she didn't think it was Raoul or Mitchell.

Remembering what Raoul had told her when they first arrived at the house, Christine reached with her free hand to a knob on the lantern. She turned it slowly and the flame grew brighter. Thinking that this could be stupid – now whoever was down here could see her before she saw them – she held her breath and started walking forward.

In the increased light, Christine noticed at once that something was definitely off. While there were things down in the basement that was dangerous, they were all pushed off to the side, well out of the way. There was no danger to her down here from tools; the danger was from whoever was down here with her.

Biting her lower lip, she continued into the darkness. She soon found herself stopped in front of a large, wooden door. It looked similar to the one at the jailhouse. She tired pushing it open, but it was locked. Looking around, Christine soon found a ring of keys hanging on a hook. With her free hand, she gripped the key ring and found the key that matched the lock.

Silently, she placed her ear against the door, listening for sounds from the other side. She heard the sounds of chains, louder than before. Now that she was seeing the door holding the source of the sound, Christine wondered how she had heard the sound the first time. This was a thick door, and it wouldn't let sound escape easily.

Her irrational side kicked in again, trying to come up with a reason as to what she was hearing. There was an intruder… He broke into the house and chained Raoul and Mitchell down here, then stole a horse to escape. That's what happened; that has to be it. "Hold on, Raoul," she whispered through the door.

Christine moved back from the door and slipped the key into the lock. She turned the key and pushed the door open. When she saw who was chained to the wall, she dropped the lantern. Her hands at her mouth barely suppressed her screams.

It wasn't Raoul and Mitchell who had been chained up in the basement of the de Chagny country house. It was Erik.